Approximately 365 Days In A Life

August 17th, 2010

The debut feature film of Chris Morris received praising reviews from the Melbourne International Film Festival, with both sessions selling out. Using court transcripts as research, Morris has created a film that satirises and confronts terrorism. Luckily, I was able to catch a preview screening at Cinema Nova.

Four Lions follows a group of British Muslims who have decided to become jihadists. Omar (Riz Ahmed) is disillusioned by the treatment of Muslims around the world and Waj (Kavyan Novak) agrees because that’s what he always does. Barry (Nigel Lindsay) is a convert to Islam who is attempting to channel his nihilism and Faisal (Adeel Akhtar) is trying to train crows to become bombers. While Omar and Waj go to Pakistan to train, Barry and Faisal recruit Hassan (Arsher Ali), a young man who is way over his head. When things go wrong in Pakistan, Omar comes back to England with a mission to make a statement to the world, although the wheels quickly begin to fall off their plans.

This farcical look at the idea of terrorism is both hysterical and concerning. While terrorism is all about ideology, it can also be associated with idiots. And this is something that never shakes throughout the movie. Despite the fact the film tries to engage the audience with its characters, there is always the knowledge that these men are dangerous.

Dialogue is intelligent and Morris provides a necessary commentary on the treatment of Muslims, both in society and in their own religion. The laughs are constant: white convert Barry blaming everything on Jews (including spark plugs), Hassan’s horrible raps and Faisal’s bird training all terrific moments. The humour is black and if you cannot handle sexist and racist dialogue, then you will not enjoy the film. Luckily, I was able to suspend my PC-ness and loved the jokes.

Still, the movie loses momentum in the second act and is only saved by a pitch-perfect final twenty minutes. The characters are also difficult to empathise with, Omar’s conversations with his son being slightly troubling.

While this is terrifically funny and there are some great moments, this is a film that doesn’t hold enough weight in its characters or their growth to reach the heights it could have. Four Lions is not a controversial film and this can be seen as another problem. It doesn’t hit the audience hard enough for it to be memorable.